USE them or lose them - that's the closure threat hanging over nine Portman Building Society branches which are not paying their way.

Portman members have just over 12 months to "vote with their feet" and prove to the Bournemouth-based society that these nine branches are worth saving.

Portman is extending the opening hours of 16 branches currently open only part-time. All 16 will now open full-time. Nine of the 16 not operating economically are being given extended opening hours to encourage greater usage but will be closed in a year if members still do not make greater use of them.

They include branches at Parkstone - which opens full-time from December 6 - and West Moors, which started opening full-time yesterday.

Portman's Canford Cliffs and Highcliffe branches will also open full-time from December 6 but are not threatened with closure.

Chief executive Robert Sharpe said: "Any branch closure is always a last resort decision.

"We cannot, however, allow successful branches to subsidise those recording losses because it impacts adversely on our ability to provide the competitive products and pricing our members have come to expect. We must be fair to the membership as a whole."

Portman's Wimborne branch will reopen on Monday after two weeks of refurbishment.

Portman has decided to close its branches in Lewisham, Thatcham and Newquay.